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20 Piastres/Dollars
| Issuer | Gore Bank of Hamilton |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Gore Bank of Hamilton Province of Upper Canada VINGT PIASTRES ZWANZIG DOLLAR Will pay to or bearer Five Pounds Currency on demand at their Office Hamilton No. Cash. Pres. |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 20 20 |
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| Comments |
The Gore Bank of Hamilton was chartered in 1835 and operated until its absorption by the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1870. A 20 piastres denomination is a direct product of the bilingual currency confusion that defined Upper Canada commerce in the early Victorian period — piastres and dollars were used interchangeably to describe the same unit, a hangover from the Spanish milled dollar that had circulated widely alongside British sterling and local Halifax currency.
Hamilton was still a modest lakehead town when the Gore Bank opened. That a chartered bank there would issue paper in this dual-denomination format reflects just how unsettled the monetary arithmetic of the province remained before the 1841 currency reforms began to impose order.